Good article, Dave. My past 3 cruises have all been during hurricane season (late September / early October), and I do know the risks about that, although I know the cruise lines will update their itineraries to avoid them, keeping safety in mind.

I don't think it was a tropical storm the last time, but my last cruise was affected, as we had to skip Grand Cayman due to heavy rain and wind, and it was too dangerous for the tenders to run. From what I understood at the time, this was the port's call, and not the captain's. It's kind of funny, because when I went upstairs to the buffet for breakfast, I saw the really dark sky and rain, and thought "Oh, this can't be good."

That turned into a day at sea (choppy seas though), and the joke of the day that day was that everyone was walking around drunk. As choppy as the seas were, the ship was still rocking significantly. I assume the stabilizers were deployed for awhile, but then a medical emergency arose, so we had to go full speed ahead to our next port of call, in which case I assume the stabilizers would be deactivated.

Dave

08-22-2011 06:10 PM

We were on Celebrity Century in 1996 (it was just the Century back then) when a hurricane was moving through where we were supposed to be going. They didn't change the itinerary until we arrived at the pier, and our eastern Caribbean cruise became a western run. We had super weather and glassy seas the whole week, although some passengers were not happy. Especially a wedding party who had big plans for a St. Thomas marriage. They ended up going to the courthouse in Key West and having a judge do the ceremony. Not what they expected, but then again something to talk about in their (hopefully) long marriage.

Dwayne

08-22-2011 07:20 PM

I cruised on Carnival Glory during Wilma! They revised us to Eastern late the night before. It pays to check your emails when it is a possibility. The cruise ended up being awesome, and my private excursions were credited back. Two things stick in my mind though. We had to make way out of Nassau fast because of another storm. When the ship got to the last harbor buoy it made a sharp turn and tilted. The water came out of the pools and slammed all the plastic deck furniture to the railings. All of the stuff on the bar shelves came crashing off. I had never seen anything like that before. Everyone was yelling to go to the other side of the ship (like that was going to help). When I see crew from that cruise on other ships we still talk about it and they remember it. The second was On Board Immigration. We had visited the Bahamas before we went to St. Thomas. That was a pain. Overall a wonderful cruise, and I met friends I still cruise with.

Dwayne

Dwayne

08-24-2011 09:34 PM

I don't want to start another Passport discussion. However, I would like to make a point about the importance of them. The Carnival Victory had to leave the departure port of San Juan early this week because of the storm. Some people didn't make it on board yet because of later flights in etc. Carnival flew some of them to Barbados to board. Problem was, some of them didn't have Passports and had to go home and miss their cruise.

Dwayne

penny3333

08-25-2011 07:09 AM

Excellent point, Dwayne, for all the procrastinators out there:)

CruiseDad

09-09-2011 10:51 AM

The Fantasy was redirected due to Irene. The storm was so wide that they had little choice but to squeeze between Irene and the coast and head for Cozumel. My daughter said the seas got very rough and even having sailed for 9 years she got sick on this one. They cancelled the Welcome Aboard Show. 16 ft seas and 40 knots winds when they were 30 miles off the coast near Jacksonville FL. The following days were beautiful and apparently the guests had a grand time after that. I have to admit I was a little nervous having them do that but I do agree the other options may have been worse. They were in Charleston, home port, that Thursday with Irene bearing down on them. Other than that one time she has had ports change and stayed at sea extra days but never even close to trouble by Hurricanes.

peter l

09-09-2011 11:20 AM

I'm a big baby when it comes to being on the "high seas", thus the reason I like to cruise during the winter and its also a great time to "melt away" the snowy month blues.

Peterl

macmom111

09-09-2011 02:06 PM

we have cruised in every sept since 2005 never had a problem. not sure what this cruise holds but one thing I know for sure is they are going to keep the ship and the people on it safe. I may get sick but I will be safe. But I love cruising enough that I dont mind taking my chances on being sick.

Dwayne

09-09-2011 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macmom111
(Post 290481)

we have cruised in every sept since 2005 never had a problem. not sure what this cruise holds but one thing I know for sure is they are going to keep the ship and the people on it safe. I may get sick but I will be safe. But I love cruising enough that I dont mind taking my chances on being sick.

GREAT attitude! I've been re-routed a few times and all were wonderful cruises.